Audifax Byiringiro, a Rwandan cricketer, tells his harrowing story of escaping the 1994 genocide and how cricket has helped play a part in the healing process.

One woman's journey from eating disorder to ironman triathlon

Suffering from mental illness and an eating disorder, Edwina Hartwell was - at her worst - five days from death.

Watch our BBC School Report on her journey to competing in ironman triathlon and how exercise and competition help to keep her illness under control.

Claressa Shields said she knew when she was 15-years-old that she was going to be the best female boxer in the world.

Two years later, when the American won  middleweight gold at London 2012,  she proved it.

At Rio 2016, she became the first American boxer to successfully defend an Olympic title and achieved another milestone this month when she was the first woman to headline a boxing show on a premium network in the United States.

As part of the  BBC's State of Sport week,  she told Ade Adedoyin that boxing saved her life.

Image source, Getty Images

On Friday, our focus turned to the inspirational stories of people who turned their lives around through sport.

Image source, Getty Images

British Swimming is conducting an investigation after multiple bullying claims were made by Paralympians about a coach, the BBC has learned.

The sport's governing body began an internal review after several Para-swimmers - understood to include Rio 2016 medallists - made complaints.

A parent of one of the complainants told the BBC that swimmers were "belittled and criticised".

"We were told elite sport was not about the welfare of athletes but the pursuit of medals. There was a culture of fear," the parent said.

UK Sport said it was aware of the internal review and "disappointed" to hear the claims.  

Former NHL enforcer Dale Purinton is calling for the league to change their contact rules so players are not left "physically and mentally broken" at the end of their careers.

The 40-year-old says suffering 17 career concussions  left him suicidal.

He has joined forces with 125 former players who are suing the NFL because they feel the league didn't do enough to protect them.

Earlier this month, a leaked draft report into British Cycling's failures claimed the governing body "sanitised" its own investigation into a "culture of fear" in which some staff felt bullied.

In an interview with BBC Sport for the State of Sport series, former rider Wendy Houvenaghel - an Olympic silver medalist - said the organisation had "zero regard" for her welfare.

Houvenaghel claimed:

• She felt "oppressed" by both Sutton and Brailsford, describing the training environment as "horrid".
• Sexism and "ageism" were prevalent at British Cycling.
• She put up with the situation because "if you rocked the boat, you were out".
• She was "discarded" by British Cycling after London 2012 despite six years of "constantly" winning medals at major championships.

Image source, Getty Images

Elite footballers' "abuse" of legal painkillers risks their health and could "potentially" have life-threatening implications, said Fifa's former chief medical officer.

About half of players competing at the past three World Cups routinely took non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen, claimed Jiri Dvorak in an interview with the BBC's State of Sport series.

"It has become a cultural issue, part of the game," said Professor Dvorak.

"It is absolutely wrong," added the Czech, who left Fifa in November after 22 years.

"For me it's clearly abuse of the drugs - that's why we use the word alarming."

Former Leeds and England defender Danny Mills said the use of painkillers was widespread in top-level dressing rooms.

"I've been in many dressing rooms where I've seen other players pressured into playing with painkillers," he said.

Image source, Getty

On Thursday, we switched to considering the welfare of the people at the centre of sport.

Fame and wealth comes to the elite, but top-level sport can also endanger the mental and physical health of athletes.

Image source, Rex Features

On Thursday, a ice-cool injury-time 'paneka-style' from Omar Kharbin gave Syria a 1-0 win over Uzbekistan in a 'home' match in Malaysia.

Head coach Ayman Hakeem was in tears in his post-match news conference, dedicating his team's victory to the Syrian people.  

Syria, in fourth, move within one point of their opponents in Asian Qualifying Group A. The top two qualify automatically, with the third-place side advancing to a continental play-off.  

"It’s an instrument of love. It is bringing Syrians together. Our results are playing that role in trying to bring us together as we used to be before the war," says Kouteibah Al Refai, secretary general of the Syrian football federation.

Syria are playing their home fixtures at neutral venues, and Malaysia has been their "home" since last September as they chase the dream of qualification for the 2018 World Cup.

"Despite all the pain they are living in, the people are believing and supporting us all time,” said defender Omar al Midani.

“The minimum we can do is to give them joy for few hours, we ask God to help us to do that.”

Image source, Getty

Day three brought us coverage of Syria's pursuit of World Cup 2018 in the midst of a bloody war in the country and a story that goes right to the heart of the meaning of sport.

Watch, read and see the full story in our interactive piece.

"Esports has the potential to become one of the top five sports in the world," said Peter Warman of esport analysts Newzoo.  

The numbers are certainly impressive.

Esports generated $493m (£400m) in revenue in 2016, with a global audience of about 320 million people.  

Forecasters predict it will generate more than £1bn in global revenue and almost double its audience to nearly 600 million people by 2020,  

French football club Paris St-Germain has created an esports team.

'Sprattel', a 22-year-old Swede, plays League of Legends - an online battle arean game - for the French club.

This is his schedule.

11am:  "Wake up and get ready for practice by playing games on your own or going through replay reviews."

Noon:  "Lunch before team practice."

3pm:  "Team practice begins. You play three games and that ends about 6pm."

6pm:  "Dinner. You have an hour's break and discuss the games."

7pm:  "You play three more games and that finishes about 10-11pm."

10pm-11pm:  "You play on your own, watch games or see how other people play - it is free time but mostly it is us playing until the early hours of the morning."

2am-3am:  "We go to bed. Then repeat it."

Image source, Opta

The focus on day two was on the growth area of esports - competitive computer gaming which attracts large audiences both live and online.

Is is part of sport? Or a challenge to it? And just what does a professional gamer do all day?

Parth Mehta:  I have seen doping happening in bodybuilding in front of my eyes. What lacked was awareness of adverse long term effects #stateofsport, external

UK Anti-Doping responded to the BBC poll, saying that drug use at every level of sport is "fast becoming a crisis". 

"Certainly the figures as regards the prevalence of performance-enhancing substances at an amateur level are incredibly alarming," said Ukad chief Nicole Sapstead.

"That said, it does confirm what UK Anti-Doping has long suspected and also seen through some of our intelligence-led testing.

"I don't think any sport can say that they don't have a problem at an amateur level."

Image source, Getty Images

The extent of doping in amateur sport - revealed by a poll for the BBC - led sports minister Tracey Crouch to describe the findings as a "concern".  

Crouch said doping was "absolutely unacceptable in any level of sport".

"I think there is still more that sports governing bodies can do on this front, working alongside UK Anti-Doping, to help promote clean sport," she added.

We know you like snazzy video stuff. And we know you like startling stats.

So this short video crunching the numbers behind the BBC survey is just the thing.

A BBC poll found more than a third (35%) of amateur sports people say they personally know someone who has doped.

It found more than a third (35%) of amateur sports people say they personally know someone who has doped, and 8% said they had taken steroids.

Half believe performance enhancing substance use is "widespread" among those who play sport competitively.

Read the full story here

Image source, Rex Features